Jack

Stats:

Age: 11 years (12 in a few months!)

Height: 5'2 (4 inches grown since November)

Weight: 86 pounds (5 pounds LOST since November, and the same weight as Sam!)

Shoe Size: Men's 1o

Favs:

The oldest kid in this family is quickly approaching his last year of non-teenhood. Soon he'll be 12, and I'll feel older than old. He's turned into quite the reader this year. Our campus has a reading competition between the 4 grade levels and the top 5 readers from each grade get to go on an awesome field trip. Jack is currently #1 in 5th grade, and he's working hard to stay in that position. Swimmng is still his first love, and he recently requested a "chlorine air freshener." You've got it bad when you LOVE the smell of chlorine. We're looking forward to another awesome swim season, and he's still faithfully swimming 2-3 days a week. He recently informed us he wanted to be a Texas Longhorn and swim for Longhorn Aquatics. I'm not sure that I can agree to this, but we try very hard to let them all choose their favorite teams, etc. After all, isn't the goal just to get him into college. If he wants to be a Longhorn...well...I've got several years to rectify that in my mind. Then again, maybe he'll choose....somewhere else? haha Next summer, we're planning on a 5 night swim camp at one of 3 major universities in Tx. We're leaning more towards the camp at Longhorn Aquatics. Still some time to decide, but the programs are offered starting Dec1 and are sold out by Jan.1 We'll have to have our game together. He's VERY excited about the idea!

School:

School is going good. 5th grade has been a super tough, academic year, and we'll be very relieved when it's over. Then again, when it's over, he'll be in my grade. I can't quite tell you that I'm prepared to teach my own kid. EEK! The ramifications of this weigh heavily on my mind. First things first, let's just get out of 5th grade first. Sigh.

Sam

Stats:
Age: 9
Height: 4'8
Weight: 86 pounds
Shoe Size: Men's 6
Favs:
My boy loves dirt. Dirt. And more dirt. He's looking VERY forward to the return of football season. Sam will eat anything you put in front of him, but his most favorite meal would consist of baked beans, refried beans, and beef jerky. And hot sauce. And ketchup. He's happiest when he is outside, but lately he's taken to operating his computer and playing computer games. We've had to limit his computer time, and we've had to make sure that all of his computer time is constructive and educational. He's such a sweetie, a monkey, and a bully. Lord help us all!
School:
Did I say Lord help us all? Because we're gonna need it. He's doing much better with his reading, but his grades continue to be a struggle. He's a hard worker, and he means to do well. However, his teachers say that he's frequently daydreaming about building bridges and forts, and he isn't always on task. In short, he's 110% boy, I'm afraid. Luckily, his struggles in school haven't turned him off from formal education altogether, but we're always encouraging and telling him that he can do it. He's a very good math student, and we try to encourage that route in particular. Well, there's always 4th grade, right? Sam wishes 4th grade didn't exist. Speaking of, 4th grade will be his last year of elementary and then off to middle school he goes. How is that POSSIBLE??

Sophy

Stats:
Age: 8
Weight: 55 pounds, still.
Height: 50", still.
Shoe Size: 1.5, yes...still.
Favs:
Since toddlerhood, her favorite meal has been PBJ and green beans, and nothing has changed. She is obsessed with brownies, drawing in her sketch book, gymnastics, cats, Egypt, and gardening. She loves reading ANYTHING she can get her hands on, but her most recent discovery has been Calvin and Hobbes. Every night, Soph and PDaddy assign characters from the Calvin comic strips and act out their specified part. All I can hear from her bedroom are hysteric giggles and guffawing. It's pretty amusing. Her class has been studying about Ireland this month, and she has taken an keen interest in Irish folk music. Apparently they've been listening to it in class, and she's now a walking Irish Encyclopedia. Her teacher taught the class an 'Irish jig.' I wish I had a nickel for everytime I've had to witness the Irish jig. Wow.
School:
2nd grade has been an awesome year for Soph. She has an amazing teacher this year that she adores, and we've been so thankful for her. I've been very appreciative of her teacher's interest in getting Sophy extra things to do to occupy her time and keep her busy when it comes to things she doesn't necessarily need to learn. Her class spent today (St. Patty's day) celebrating in style, and they worked on ratios/fractions with Lucky Charms which made Soph VERY happy. Her favorite school topics thus far have been the ones covered in geometry and multiplication. If I hear one more thing about vertices or what 6X4 equals, I'm liable to scream! On the side, she's taken it upon herself to learn about Arabic customs and beliefs. Yeah, very interesting. Hahha. Her grades have been awesome this year. She's yet to drop below a 95 in any subject and currently has a 101 in math. I really hope her love of math holds out!

She's had this under her belt for a while, but she's just now mustering the nerve to pull it off! By the end of her private lesson, she had it going. Very proud of that little girl!

Let's Get Ready to Rummmmblleee

I'm not sure how long this brawl was going on in the backyard before I actually became aware of it. What I do know is that from the time I started watching at the window, it lasted for a very solid half hour and did not end until my first born, for the first time in documented history, bested my 2nd born in a battle of wills. Sadly, I had already cut off the camera, but I'm happy to report that Jack got angry. He got EXTREMELY angry, and the last move of this here backyard brawl was Jack putting a Super-Suplex (think Nature Boy Rick Flair or Kerry Von Erik) on his brother followed by a pile-driver that made me stand at the window and clap. It'd be nice if I could tell you this only involved my male children, but alas, this is how it started:

In the beginning.....

At some point......
This was a nice full-body tackle.....

Jack really wanted to help....really...

See? He's helping.....Sam.

Not to worry. That's not a hug she's giving Jack. It's a well placed, flying choke-hold.

Sam always wanted to eat dirt.

This was followed by some hair pulling....

Sophy is doing a cheer. We're all about support in this family.

Tomorrow, cage fighting in the dining room! Don't miss it!

Jack, Sam, & Sophy

Jack is growing about an inch a day (I exaggerate), and he is doing well in 5th grade. We're having to adjust to the work load of middle school. Other than that, he's made a fairly smooth transition. His foot pain has returned with a vengance, so we're readying ourselves for the fact that he will jump 2-3 foot sizes in the near future. He recently weighed in at 89 pounds and is 5'2 or so. I had hoped he would be able to wear his size 14 jeans from the end of the cold part of last spring, but no. That will not be the case. I recently purchased size 16's, which for those of you who don't know, is as high as you can go on the boy side of the store. Not only is my boy in the men's sized shoe section, it seems we'll be in the men's clothing section by the end of 5th grade. Sniff, sniff. Still hasn't topped a mile in the pool, but he's oh-so close. He has an appointment for next month to set a date for his braces. We think we have all of our prep extractions completed, so we're on to the next step. When did this happen? My boy is a young man. He is VERY interested in cars and can tell you which one you should buy, which one has the best engine, and what year model he prefers to the current option. He's very well read on the subject, let me tell you.
Sam, after NOT growing for years, has started eating us out of house and home, and recently weighed in at 86 pounds. Yep, he is 2 pounds shy of his big brother and wearing a size 6 shoe. If we're not careful, he's going to be wearing Jack's clothes by the end of elementary school. Ha. His first football game was set for last weekend, but it was cancelled due to bad weather. We'll have his first game this coming weekend, and he is fired up about it. Practice continues to go well, and he continues to work hard. It's hard to believe he'll be NINE years old in a little over a month. He's 8 going on 28, for sure. Still my building man. Still my crazy scientist, chef, inventor, etc. School is going well for Sam. He continues to struggle with reading, but he has improved a good deal. His new favorite library book is the Diary of a Fly, Worm, Spider, etc. series. He LOVES them! And I'm just excited that he's CHOOSING to read a library book! Willingly! YAY!
Sophy is loving 2nd grade and is especially fond of her teacher. Miss F is young and fun, and Sophy adores her. So far this year, Miss F. has started off some very neat classroom projects and activities, and Sophy has really enjoyed the work. Her progress report grades were extremely good, and I'm very thankful that her year is off to a good start. She told me this evening that 3 times as many people in the US drink bottled water as drink tap water. She apparently read this in a newspaper. She reportedly prefers bottled water as well, so she feels like she is in the moral majority when it comes to water consumption. She also told us this weekend that if we ever wanted to punish her that she would appreciate us NOT sending her to Germany. She recently read about the Nazis of WWII, and frankly, Germany is NOT "a place where nice people live." So there.

Breakin' It Down

(I apologize for this HORRIBLE photo. I took it with the dumpy camera in my iPhone, but when you're leaving the house at 6:45 a.m., you can't be picky.)

First Day of School '09

Day One of school was a success all the way around. All 3 kids LOVE their teachers and classmates, and the day seemed to be smooth for all involved. Jack's first day of middle school was "full of everything." He has a lot to learn, but he handled it all like a pro. Tomorrow is the first time he has to dress out for PE. Eek! I am enjoying having him on my campus. He's close enough that I can spy, but far enough removed that it doesn't appear that I'm spying! Sam loves his homeroom teacher, and his entire friend club is in his class...all except his BFF, J. We're planning a sleepover soon, so they can spend some time together. Sam is very sad he isn't in his class. We're still very thankful that he is in such an awesome group of classmates for the year! Sophy is with a pretty fresh, new group. Not many kiddos in her group from years past, but she hooked up with a "real cutey," Sophy's words, named Lilly. She totally loves her teacher, and we're feeling good things about 2nd grade! Her teacher is young and beautiful and VERY creative, so Soph is in HOG heaven.
We left Sam with Meem and Pop after leaving my class after school, so they could take him to football practice. Pop and Sam are really enjoying getting into football, so Sam was determined to not miss practice tonight--because trust me, I seriously tried to get him to skip just this once. He wouldn't hear it. After leaving him with Meem and Pop, I rushed home with Jack and Soph in order to get Soph to gym on time. PDad was shooting school pics all evening, and after he finished, he drove over and picked Sam up from practice. This was the first practice with full pads and helmets, so PDad and Sam both were excited to get it going. He had a blast, and we all made it home for the first time all evening about 8 o'clock. WHAT A DAY! Sheesh. My dogs are barking after being on my feet from 6:45 a.m. to 9pm. The only time I sat down all day was on the drive to and from school. That felt so nice.
Tomorrow, Jack has a dentist appt. in Longview after school for Phase I of tooth pulling. Then later in the evening, we have Open House at school for Sam and Sophy. Another busy day. It'll all settle down soon, so we're just hanging on in the meantime and enjoying the good start of Day One! Excited to get Day Two rolling!

Jack, Sam, Sophy

The latest Jack favs:

Food: Cheese Pizza & Mac N' Cheese

TV Show: Destroyed in Seconds

Car: Ford Mustang (and can he please have one when he turns 16?)

Book: Captain Underpants & the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopy Pants tied for first with Captain Underpants & the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy, Part I The Night of the Nasty Nostril Nuggets

Hobbies: Reading train magazines, playing cards, swim team, eating

Randomness: 4'11 and a half...he is now officially an inch and a half taller than Aunt Jewel.

The latest Sam favs:

Food: BBQ anything, beans, shrimp and hot sauce

TV Show: Max & Ruby

Car: The trash truck

Book: All of the Biscuit stories

Hobbies: building things, learning the piano, and learning to drive the mule

Randomness: Sam still sleeps with Happy and Slappy, our spotted Dalmatian friends from babyhood that have traveled every mile he has traveled.

The latest Sophy favs:

Food: Green Beans and Brownies

TV Show: Anything with Barbie in it

Car: do rollerskates count (?) because that girl is a rollerskating whiz

Book: Junie B. series (mom & dad love them as much as Soph...we laugh....)

Hobbies: cartwheels, splits, developing her own hieroglyph code (I wish I was kidding)

Randomness: the heiroglyphs weren't random enough for ya?

Here or not.

Sam's first produce purchase.

What a man.

Fall has made it's way to my dining room.

The kids are playing hide and seek, and I just heard Sophy shout, "Here or not, here I come." Hahaa, close enough.


The Pinkies woke up early this a.m. and headed to breakfast at an old hotel on the square in this here quaint town. It was fairly well a no frills meal, but it was reasonable, and ya know..sometimes you just want eggs and pancakes, ya know? Granny was cooking in the kitchen, and there was no fear of Hepatitis like I get when I eat at IHOP down by the interstate. PDaddy left after that to go take senior portraits, and the kids and I went to Shreveport to Marvin's Gardens for pumpkins. I had hoped to take them to a church in town that has a pumpkin patch each year at this time, but either I missed it or perhaps it's next weekend. I dunno. Either way, we went to Marvins. I love that market. It reminds me of stepping back into a different time. Or place. Or something. My kids, for example, felt the same way because they ran around and acted like absolute monkeys at the zoo. At one point, I felt like Jack Tripper trying to stop an artistically arranged stack of squash from tumbling like Jenga blocks. Sam.


I took the kids to the park at the duck pond, and we made a pit stop at Hobby Lobby. Huge mistake. HUGE! That store is a $trap$. I bought some fall items, and the kids picked up stuff to decorate their pumpkins with. I bought Sophy a silver Christmas tree for her room that was on sale, plus the cashier gave me the sale coupon from the paper. I knew if I waited it would be gone, so I went ahead and got it. We're going to put strands of pink lights on it and pink decorations. Cute, cute. Anywho, where was I? Hobby Lobby. Oh yes, we left HL and headed to Jason's for lunch. When we got home, PDaddy was home, so I left the kids with him and went to the Pottery Tent to look for some other fall stuff for the dining room. PDaddy is gone again to take evening pics somewhere, and the kids are eating grilled cheese and bologna sandwiches. I hear the vacuum calling my name, so I better be off.
((OH!! Guess what! We have a skunk infestation! Honestly, it's like the plagues of Egypt around here. If it's not the gas, it's the electricity, or the internet (drunk driver crashed into the pole down the street from us), or it's the plumbing. Now the animals are turning against us. There is a foxhole, er...a skunkhole in our azelea hedge just outside of our front door that smells amazingly skunky. Not sure what our plan of attack will be, but rest assured, I will document it for posterity.

Day #4 of 30 Days in Photos

We worked outside all afternoon while PDaddy had wedding interviews. Sam and Soph started their lastest project. They planted sunflowers, zinnias, and four o'clocks. We're going to count the days to see how long it takes to see blooms! ((Ironic side note: We left school early Friday morning thanks to a snow cancellation. Jack will return to school tomorrow with a sunburn he received while shirtless outside all day today. Only in East Texas.)

Sophy Claire's Favorite Things

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches
Sparkly Pink
Green Beans
Ribbons
Cats
Cartwheels
Swimming underwater
Mermaids and Fairies
Pink Seahorses
Rubies
M&M's
Red Roses
Pink Daisies
Pink Tulips
Stories about mice
The beach
Planting seeds
Rainbows with pink clouds
Bubble baths
Roller skating
Being a firefighter

Courage Under Fire

Sweet Santa left Sophy a pair of roller skates of her very own! Today was the first day that we set out to learn the art of skating. Carpet is the best teacher, so I turned her loose in the hallway. Notice her brother in the background with Nerf pistol in hand? He was leaping from one vantage point to another during her treks up and down the hall...firing at her from each spot. Poor kid. She never fell. True grit, eh?

To my great wonderment and surprise, the Big Man also left yours truly a pair of roller skates! WITH PINK WHEELS!! I can't imagine where he must've found them...ahem. Or why they arrived in an Amazon box with my name on the label. Still. I know they were from Santa and meant for me. I just know it! See how lovely!?

Video Montage

Make video montages at onetruemedia.com

Things I Need/Want To Do:

1. Go see Charlotte's Web with the kids.
2. Run to Kroger to pick up last minute holiday/snack/baking/essentials. I'm thinking this year we're going to really be good to Santa and make him a plate of GOODIES that includes ham biscuits, blueberry muffins, grapes, strawberries etc.
3. Finish up Mr. GP's Christmas shopping.
4. Neighbor gifts
5. Pick up supplies for the kid's garland idea that I stole from someone's blog (colored puff balls and beads strung together with a big needle and fishing line...cutest thing ever...)
6. Bake cake mix cookies (lemon). I bought the ingredients weeks ago, and Mr.GP made the vanilla version for a Christmas party we attended. They were soo good. Maybe I should let him bake them. He's a much better cook than, say, me.
7. Do a final present count for the kids. One year we had this horrible realization on Christmas Eve night that Jack was seriously shorted when it came to presents compared to the other two for some reason. I felt horrible, and I vowed to not let it happen again (it sounds petty, but these things matter.) Luckily at the time, they were all young enough that it didn't cause too much of a stir. That type of slip-up now and we would have an INCIDENT on our hands.

((I just suited the boys up in jogging pants, tshirts and tennis shoes and sent them off to jog around the house 5 times. They are about to explode from Christmas anxiety! Omg. We've tried to do something fun each day of our holiday, even if it's just making cookies and hot chocolate for snack time. Of course, all of the constant fun can takes it toll....at times like this, we jog. FAR!))

And isn't the cutest kid around?

Frankly Scarlet....

These aren't exactly the words the doctor spoke to us today. It was more like, "Looks like scarlet fever to me..." GREAT! So, that explains the throwing up, fever, headache, achey body, and RASH that showed up today. Luckily, we got a shot in the hiney (which caused Sophy to swear like a sailor of sorts), a round of antibiotics, and Benadryl. That means Jack is behind in our pharmacy tally for the week. He's being stubbornly healthy despite all our best efforts to give him all sorts of nasty things. Don't worry. I'm sure we'll crack him. Since we failed to have our tea party and this is the last night my brother's family will be here, we're having a Pizza Party for all the cousins tonight, and it sounds entirely yummy to me at this point. I'd love nothing more than to drown my sorrows in a little cheese (or a lot of cheese) and Canadian Bacon (with black and green olives.) If we are able, we're going to the square up town to let the kids talk to Santa and ride around the square in a carriage this evening. Know what else? We're going to veg out in front of the tv and watch Dead Man's Chest tonight after the kids are abed. And then tomorrow...well, someone will puke. Or grow a rash. Or something.

Spud, Michael, Larry, Magic....and Jack.

NBA here we come. Jack received his first Christmas present this weekend at our family Christmas for my side. To say he is happy would be an understatement. He has been asking us for a basketball set for a while. I guess this will appease him until we're ready to concrete one in. So far we're working on HORSE and 21....oh and slam dunking off the top bunk. I'm waiting for Sam to do something really horrendous with it all. It's not everyday there is a 6ft tall object in their room....Sam is bound to do unspeakable things. He was asking for rope earlier and reading Jack's book on pulleys and wenches. Great.

It's a holiday. I guess you know what that means..

Uh-huh. I'll give you one guess...and that's seriously all you'll need if stop and think about our luck with holidays. Yep. Vomit. Sigh. Sigh. Sigh. Sigh. Yesterday was our final day of school before the holidays. I took Sam to the doc because he has this horrible sinus infection that won't go away, even with antibiotics. No biggie. Doc prescribes a stronger/longer round of them and off we go. My brother's family was due in last night, so my mom had made a huge meal. We were all to meet there at their arrival time to have supper. Everything was going great. About this time, Sophy takes to the couch and says she isn't feeling well. I check her out, and lo' and behold she is running a temp. Nice. We ate our supper quickly and headed home. My brother's family had made it there just minutes after all of this took place, and my boys did not want to come home...to the point of tears. So, Mimi said she didn't mind them staying to play with all the cousins...so we left them there. After a long car ride home, Sophy emptied her gut the minute we walked in the door. YAY! PUKE! I'm so excited! I mean. Of course she puked it's the Christmas holiday, right? And after all, we have to leave plenty of holiday days for the boys to catch it. Right? It just wouldn't have that holiday feel without the smell of Lysol and Clorox. Inhale....can ya smell it?
Oh, and remember that Christmas tea we were so going to have today? It's enough to make ya cry, I tell ya. We're thinking if no one else begins puking, we may be able to do it tomorrow.
So, when we're not puking, we are singing Christmas songs. Sam's Christmas program went very nicely. He is quite the stage ham. We figured as much, but he proved us right. The kindergarten rendition of Feliz Navidad was too cute, and the little swaying hip, side step was the perfect move for the song. How cute is this?

My sil from Austin will be in a bit, so I better go make myself a little less scarey looking as we're going to look for a few Christmas gifts. Mr.GP volunteered *evil laugh inserted here* to watch the kids while we go. What's a few kids added to 3??

Christmas Card Photos

This is one of the contenders for this year's Christmas card. We took some amazing individuals too. How will I ever be able to decide?
PS Did you know that if you click on the pic it's gets larger? WOW!

Isn't she lovely.

Sophy Claire Daily
November 21, 2001
10:58 a.m.
7 pounds, 14 ounces, 19 inches long

I've dropped the ball...

T Poor little guy. Fever is gone this a.m., but he is so croupy. His little eyes are just running, and he's pretty miserable. Of course, he takes his illness like any man does. NOT VERY WELL! He gripes, he complains, he moans. UG! On the other hand, Sophy started vomiting (Hello E.Jo. Top that.) this a.m. at about 5:45. She only threw up twice and was talking about her bday party between spells. This morning she has rushed to the bathroom a couple of times, but nothing came out (nice visual, eh?) Totally different patient than Sam. In between MENTIONING that she doesn't feel well, she's turning somersaults, coloring, asking to paint her toenails (That's my girl!), and carrying kitty around.

Ok. So you asked for it (well, you didn't, but here it comes anyway!) House pics!
The mantle. These are black and white pics of my dad, my brothers and me, and Mr. Pinkie and his sis.

Now. Here is one side from the room divide. This daybed will eventually have a straight skirt (nnot sure what else to call that), so it will look like a sofa skirt. Also, we'll add more pillows.

The computer armoire has really pretty doors that you can't see in this pic.

This is the dining room side. Yes, it's small, but it's bigger than the pic suggests. I hope to eventually replace the table with one that seats 10, but I still plan on using benches for the side seating and chairs at the head of the table. It's still sort of junky. All of the wall stuff is lying around the room waiting to be put back up.

And!!! I am so excited about this mudroom that is about to be gutted! We'll use the shelf area that is already built in, add a built-in bench under that area, and 2 hooks for each child under one section of shelf. Each kid will have a top and bottom shelf, and 2 hooks on the wall (backpack and coat). FINALLY we'll have a place to put those lunch boxes! UG! Anyway. Paint colors are pending. But the brown is about to say AUDIOS!
My mil made these leaf sun catchers for the kids last weekend. Cute, huh?

Last, but no least. Look at this little guy! I bought him unfinished and decopauged (sp?) him. I also bought him a brother who is going to be gold and a sister who is going to be pink with baby birds!! Hehe. Did I mention that I've never actually decopauged before? HHmmm. I haven't. Hopefully, it's not THAT obvious.

Well, show and tell is over boys and girls. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!